Apparatus for the transporting of the intermediate container of continuous casting machines



May 27, 1969 BUSCHMANN ET AL 3,446,269

APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORTING OF THE INTERMEDIATE CONTAINER OFCONTINUOUS CASTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 8, 1966 Sheet of 3 FIG] INVENTORSHORST BUSCHMANN KARL HEINZ GOLDE ATTORNEYS M y 1969 H. BUSCHMANN ET AL3,446,269

APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORTING OF THE INTERMEDIATE CONTAINER OFCONTINUOUS CASTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 8, 1966 Sheet 2 of 3 R lb JURSHORST auscumm KARL nsmz some BY JMM/MMAQ;

ATTORNEYS May 27, 1969 BUSCHMANN ET AL 3,446,269

APPARATUS FOR THE TRANSPORTING OF THE INTERMEDIATE CONTAINER OFCONTINUOUS CASTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 8, 1966 Sheet 3 of s INVENTORJHORST BUSCHMANN KARL HEINZ GOLDE 1M4 MMvZZL ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent Ofiice 3,446,269 Patented May 27, 1969 U.S. Cl. 164281 4 ClaimsABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A casting car movable along a path above amold carries a ladle of molten metal and has lifting mechanism fordetachably engaging and supporting an intermediate container thereon.The casting car is movable selectively to one point on its path at whichthe lifting mechanism is operable to set the intermediate container inposition to pour metal into the mold and to another point at which thelift mechanism is adapted either to deposit an intermediate containeron, or pick one off, a transport car. The transport car is movable alonga path across the path of the casting car and is adapted to carry anintermediate container to a heating station at which the intermediatecontainer is preheated. With this arrangement one intermediate containercan be in pouring position while another is being preheated, and twotransport cars and two casting cars can be utilized to providesubstantially continuous pouring.

This invention relates to continuous casting plants and, moreparticularly, relates to an improved pouring platform arrangement for acontinuous casting plant.

In a continuous casting plant, the molten steel from a ladle is pouredinto an intermediate container or tundish and then run into the mold ormolds from the intermediate container.

However, prior to use of the intermediate container, the container mustbe preheated. Thus, the intermediate container must be transported to aheating station. To move the intermediate container, a car is provided.Because of the size and weight of the intermediate container, its carmust also be large and heavy.

In the plants known to the art, the intermediate container has beenpositioned over the mold when mounted in its car. With suchconstruction, the massiveness of the elements involved have impairedaccessibility and visibility in the region of the mold.

In addition, when using a casting car to carry the ladle, the car mustbe adapted to the shape of the intermediate container car in order thatit can be moved over same. Since it is, furthermore, not possible tomove the casting car with ladle inserted over the heating station, it isnecessary to provide sulficient space between the region of the mold andthe corresponding heating station for the casting car in order that thelatter can be moved at any time out of the region of the mold. Such aparking place must be provided on both sides of the mold in the case ofcontinuously operating continuous casting machines since in this case,two casting cars are used alternately.

The object of the present invention is to reduce the size of the pouringplatform of the continuous casting machine and, in addition, to limit toa minimum the structural expense of the means required for thetransportation of the intermediate container from the continuous mold tothe heating station or back.

In order to limit the space taken up by the pouring platform, it isfirst necessary to be able to move the casting car over the operatingheating stations with the ladle inserted. This result can be otbained inthe manner that the heating burners are installed in correspondingly lowposition and that the intermediate container car or the intermediatecontainer on the car, after it has been removed laterally from the mold,is lowered by the required amount. This, however, would require a highstructural expense.

In order to solve the task in view by the simplest means, it is proposedby the present invention to arrange a lifting mechanism provided withmeans for receiving the intermediate container on the casting car. Inthis way, an additional transport car for the intermediate container issaved and, furthermore, the desired result of lowering the intermediatecontainer by the necessary amount after it has been removed laterallyfrom the mold, and placing it on trestles below the heating station. Forthe receiving of the intermediate container, there are preferablyprovided on the casting car two lift mechanism which can be operatedboth synchronously or individually. In this way, there is obtained thepossibility of simultaneously being able to effect in simple fashion atilting movement of the intermediate container for the deslaggingthereof or for the removal of the material which has not yet beenpoured, for example, in case of disturbances in operation. When using anintermediate container car, it was heretofore necessary to provide anadditional means for tipping the intermediate container.

In order to effect an additional saving in space, in another embodimentof the invention, the lift mechanism provided on the casting carcooperates with transport cars movable transverse to the direction ofmovement of the casting car in order to receive and forward theintermediate container to the heating station. These transport cars canbe made of low height since they are independent of the structuralheight of the mold. In this way, the possibility is afforded of arangingboth heating stations on one side of the continuous casting machine andat equal lateral distance from same, in which connection the one heatingstation can be located between the tracks of the casting car while theother can be arranged outside of the one track of the casting car.Between the two heating stations, there can be set up an auxiliary ladleover which the ladle is moved in case of a leaky stopper. In such acase, and before the process, the lift chains are loosened from theengagement members on the intermediate container and the intermediatecontainer is left over the continuous casting machine. This space-savingarrangement of heating stations and auxiliary ladle is particularlyadvantageous, especially in case of casting machines which are arrangedside by side.

Having briefly described this invention, it will be described in greaterdetail along with other objects and advantages in the following portionsof the specification, which may best be understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a side view;

FIG. 2 is a view seen in direction A of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of a casting car with lift mechanism arranged asmeans for transporting the intermediate container car; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of two continuous casting machines arranged sideby side having the means in accodance with the invention for thetransverse transporting of the intermediate container by the castingcar.

In the figures, there is shown the angular frames 1a, 1b of the castingcar. On the vertically extending frame parts 2a, 2b there are arrangedthe trucks 3a and 3b. The drive consists of the motor 4 and theintermediate gearing 5 which are mounted on the connecting girder 6. Thedrive acts via the shaft 7 and the bevel gearing 8 as well as theintermediate gearing 9 on both wheels 10 and 11 of the truck 3a. Thetrucks 12a and 12b arranged on the opposite side are provided on theconnecting girder 13. The trucks 3a and 3b travel on the rails 14 andthe trucks 12a and 12b on the rails 15 which are fastened to a girder16. On a platform 17 fastened between the two frames 1a and 1b, there isarranged a lift mechanism consisting of the motor 18 and the twointer-mediate gears 19a and 19b, sprocket wheels 21a and 21b beingfastened on the shafts a and 20b of said mechanism in order to raise andlower the lift chains 22a and 2217. So that the chains 22a and 22b donot spring out from the sprocket wheel 21a and 21b, supporting wheels23a and 23b are provided. The chains travel over guide sprocket wheels24a and 24b. The shafts 25a and 25b of the guide sprocket wheels aresupported in the frames 1a and 1b. Below the lift drive consisting ofthe parts 18 and 19a, 19b, there is arranged a second lift driveconsisting of the same parts, on a platform 26 fastened below the frames1a and 1b (FIG. 1). In FIG. 1, the sprocket wheel 27a is shown withsupporting roller 28a to avoid the slipping out of the chain 29a. Thelift chains 29a and 29b on the opposite are also guided over guidesprocket wheels 30a, 30b. If the height of lift of the lift chains isslight, their ends 31 can drop down freely. Otherwise, they arecollected in a box, not shown. The chain ends 32 are provided withholding means 33 which cooperate with correspondingly developedengagement members 34 on the intermediate container 35. By raising orlowering the lift chains 22a, 22b, 29a, 2912, the intermediate container35 is raised from its supports 36a, 36b or placed on same. For theaccurate aligning of the intermediate container with respect to themolds 37, the supports 36a, 361) are displaceable in the directionindicated by the double arrow 38 by the drive 39 and in the directionindicated by the double arrow 40 by drives 41a and 41b arranged on bothsupports. The intermediate container 35 is, furthermore, supported inthe center by the spring device 42 (FIG. 2).

In order to lift the intermediate container 35 from its supports 36a,36b, 42, the two lift mechanisms are placed synchronously in operation.Thereupon, the intermediate container is moved over one of the two slagthimbles 43 located on the right and left of the continuous castingmachine. By further actuation of the lift mechanism 45 in verticaldirection, the intermediate container carries out a tilting movement inthe direction indicated by the arrow 46 and the slag which is containedin the intermediate container is poured into the slag container 43 (FIG.4). Thereupon, by oppositely directed actuation of the lift mechanism45, the intermediate container is .again brought into its normalposition. In this position, the intermediate container is moved byactuation of the travel drive 5 of the casting car to the heatingstations or the transverse transport cars 47, 48 and deposited on one ofthe two by actuation of both lift mechanisms 44, 45. After the loweringof the intermediate containers and the detaching of the receivingmembers 33- of the lift chains from the holding means 34 of theintermediate container, the latter is moved to either heating station 49or heating station 50. As can be noted from FIG. 1, the transversetransport cars can be made particularly low so that the intermediatecontainers come to lie at a lower level than above the mold. The heatingstations can, therefore, be made so low that the casting car with theladle inserted therein can be moved over same. Due to the fact that therails 15 for the trucks 12a, 12b of the casting car are at a high level,the rails 51 for the trans- 'verse transport car do not have to crossany of the rails of the casting car. Between the two heating stations49, 50, there is arranged the auxiliary ladle 52. By this arrangement ofthe heating stations and of the auxiliary ladle on one side of themachine, it is possible, as can be noted from FIG. 4, to place severalmachines alongside of each other in a space-saving manner. In FIG. 4,for example, there is shown a sextuplicate casting machine 53 and adouble casting machine 54 arranged side by side. Each of the two castingmachines has two casting cars 55, 55a and 56, 56a respectively,associated with them, which make completely continuous casting possible.Shortly before the ladle, for example 57, which is in casting positionis emptied, a full ladle is inserted in the casting car 55a and thenmoved over the mold.

The device in accordance with the invention for the transverse transportof the intermediate container has at the same time the advantage that itcan be used, for example, for replacing the mold and the work connectedtherewith. In this connection, the working and visibility conditions aresubstantially better than if the mill crane is used for such work.Furthermore, during the conversion time, the mill crane can be used forother jobs.

This invention may be variously modified and embodied within the scopeof the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A pouring platform for a continuous casting plant wherein moltenmetal from a ladle is received in an intermediate container from whichthe metal is poured into a mold, comprising: a casting car for carryinga ladle movable along a path above a mold, an intermediate container formolten metal, a transport car for carrying the intermediate containeralong a path to a heating station, and lifting mechanism on the castingcar for detachably engaging the intermediate container and supportingthe same thereon, said casting car being movable selectively to onepoint along its path at which the lifting mechanism is operable to setthe intermediate container carried thereon in position to pour metalinto the mold and to a second point at which the lifting mechanism isadapted to deposit the intermediate container on, and pick theintermediate container off, the transport car, and said casting carbeing adapted to support a ladle carried thereon in position fordischarging metal from said ladle into the intermediate container whichis in said pouring position.

2, The pouring platform of claim 1 in which said lifting mechanism isadapted to tilt the intermediate container thereon for pouring outmaterial in the intermediate container and which includes a receptaclespaced from the mold along the path of the casting car in position forreceiving material poured from the intermediate container on the castingcar by said tilting.

3. The pouring platform of claim 1 which includes a second transport caron the same path with the first, and a second heating station along thepath for the transport cars, said heating stations being spaced alongthe latter path a distance for one of the transport cars to be at eitherone of the heating stations while the other is in position for theintermediate container to be transferred between the casting car and thelatter transport car by the lifting mechanism.

4. The pouring platform of claim 3 which includes a second casting caron the same path with the first.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 722,868 3/ 1903 Mitchell.

323,586 8/1885 McLaughlin. 3,273,208 9/1966 Greenberger 164-337 X3,354,939 11/1967 Calderon 164--33 7 X J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, PrimaryExaminer.

ROBERT D. BALDWIN, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 164-337

